Essential Questions

Tip: An essential question guides the process and the development of meaningful, authentic tasks. This process takes time and is a difficult concept for teachers and students to understand. Guide your teachers through this process by sharing information about essential questions, providing some examples, and

Tip: An essential question guides the process and the development of meaningful, authentic tasks. This process takes time and is a difficult concept for teachers and students to understand. Guide your teachers through this process by sharing information about essential questions, providing some examples, and

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Tip: An essential question guides the process and the development of meaningful, authentic tasks. This process takes time and is a difficult concept for teachers and students to understand. Guide your teachers through this process by sharing information about essential questions, providing some examples, and modeling the brainstorming activity.

1. An essential question:

often involves a moral or ethical dilemma and/or address issues of bias or perspective.

has no right or wrong answer

probes for deeper meaning and sets the stage for further questioning

centers around major issues, problems, concerns, interests, or themes that are relevant to your students' lives

can cover several disciplines

2. Some sample essential questions

What is the best strategy for reducing the impact of acid rain in the United States?

How does the use of voice enhance a story?

How might our lives be different if the popular vote selected the President?

3. Use a program like Inspiration to brainstorm possible essential questions around a topic or concept on which you would like to expand. Go to Inspiration to learn more about how to use this program for brainstorming.

Tip: You can use this tip for almost any class or workshop you teach to teachers or students. You have identified the concepts and learning objectives that you plan to cover. How do you keep your participants on their toes and interested in the content you are trying to get across? Come up with a question for

Tip: A lot of my work with adult learners came out of research on CBAM (Concerns-Based Adoption Model) and Stages of Concern. Determining at what stage the teachers were helped me design their professional development learning plans with their help. Their questions helped me figure out how to guide them along

A Questioning Toolkit This enlightening website provides an actual Toolkit for teachers to use when developing the vital skill of questioning in their students. It examines 17 different types of questions and gives examples. Here is one sample: "Essential Questions. These are questions

Tip: An essential question covers the big idea or concept that the project is targeting. As stated in the previous tip, essential questions have no right or wrong answers. After teachers have focused on a particular essential question, they can have their students develop Probing or Foundation questions. These

Tip: One of the things coaching does is help teachers to reflect on their own professional growth. The relationship between a coach and teacher builds trust. Some of the questions teachers have asked me might be good questions for all teachers to think about: What can I do to improve my teaching practice?